We thus analyzed the innate immune response of the PDL exposed to HSV-1 and concluded that viral infection promoted an acute pro-inflammatory immune response in both cultured PDL cells and PDL fragments with a significant increase in TNF-α and IL-1β and induction of innate antiviral cytokines such as the type I interferons (IFN-α and IFN-β) and type III interferon (IFN-λ). The gene discussed is IFNA1; the disease is viral infectious disease.